Exploring the World of Craft Meat
Everything to know about Olive Wagyu (Infographic)
April 10th, 2018 by Joe Heitzeberg • Read 15,376 times • less than one min read
We created a handy infographic to answer all the questions you ever had about Olive Wagyu. Enjoy! You can read more about Olive Wagyu here.
My meeting with Kagawa Prefecture's Governor
April 3rd, 2018 by Joe Heitzeberg • Read 7,657 times • 1 min read
In October 2017, I met with Kagawa Prefecture's Governor and senior staff. Watch below or check out the transcript of my speech in Japanese, which outlined my journey from living on a farm homestay in Hokkaido 20 years ago to a current milestone: bringing Olive Wagyu from Japan to America. What follows is an explanation of how this came about in the first place. Soonafter we started Crowd Cow, friends and early customers asked, "will you...
Craft Beef: A Revolution of Small Farms and Big Flavors
March 29th, 2018 by Joe Heitzeberg • Read 10,561 times • less than one min read
When we started Crowd Cow almost 3 years ago, we wanted to experience the "absolutely incredible-tasting" beef from small, family-run farms that our mutual friend had told us about, and to make that accessible to everyone. What we didn't realize at the time, is that beef itself is every bit as diverse, rich and interesting as coffee, wine, chocolate and microbrew. As we met with farmers, butchers, chefs and modern meat enthusiasts, we...
Olive Wagyu: Bold Umami Flavor and Healthy Fats
March 28th, 2018 by Joe Heitzeberg • Read 18,395 times • 1 min read
If you’re a true steakophile, you might have heard of Kobe beef. But even if you’re extremely in the know when it comes to exquisite steak, you’ve probably never heard of Olive Wagyu. It’s a small-batch variety of steak produced only in the far reaches of Japan’s Kagawa Prefecture, and raised on a diet of caramelized pressed olives. It takes the insane marbling of Japanese beef, delivers even higher-than-normal levels of healthy...
Texas BBQ team scoring big with Crowd Cow brisket!
March 14th, 2018 by Joe Heitzeberg • Read 6,680 times • less than one min read
Our friends at How Ya Derrin' BBQ has been knocking it out of the park on the competitive barbeque circuit with Crowd Cow beef! How Ya Derrin' is made up of Gil Martinez and Benny Rocha, two friends from South Texas who wanted to partner with Crowd Cow because we all share the values of sourcing the highest-quality meats. It made sense for us because Crowd Cow carries the cream of the crop when it comes to high quality beef. -Gil...
Crowd Cow with Beyond Meat and PRE Brands at Expo West
March 14th, 2018 by Joe Heitzeberg • Read 6,642 times • 1 min read
Last week I was invited to participate on a panel with the CEOs of Beyond Meat and PRE Brands at Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, an annual trade show in the natural, organic and healthy products industry, bringing together over 80,000 industry professionals and 3,100 exhibits. The panel was called What's Your Beef? Consumer-Driven Innovations in Meat and our moderator, Anubhav Goel, led us through a lively discussion of each company's...
The Story Behind Olive Wagyu
March 5th, 2018 by Joe Heitzeberg • Read 92,652 times • 2 min read
What is this “Wagyu” we’re talking about? Let me break it down for you. There are four breeds of “Wagyu” -- Japanese cattle, that is -- that are indigenous to Japan. One of them, Kuroge Washu, is genetically predisposed to high levels of marbling. It’s really hard to get authentic Wagyu 100% from the Kuroge Washu breed directly from Japan. But we didn’t just source authentic Wagyu from this Pacific Rim nation. We sniffed out the rarest of...
Press release: Crowd Cow has Japan’s most exquisite steak
February 23rd, 2018 by Joe Heitzeberg • Read 10,101 times • less than one min read
On February 28, Crowd Cow is offering a limited amount of A5 Wagyu imported directly from Japan. A5 Wagyu contains higher proportions of healthy omega-3 fatty acids than Angus steak and is legendary for umami flavor, filigreed marbling, and fat so soft it melts against your skin. Our A5 Wagyu comes from the Kuroge Washu breed -- one of four native Wagyu breeds in Japan and the only one genetically predisposed to fine-grained intramuscular...
How small farms benefit from Crowd Cow
February 19th, 2018 by Joe Heitzeberg • Read 9,397 times • 5 min read
Small producers in this country often face a tough choice: send their cattle off the auction yard for a cut-rate price, or raise the animals to maturity and take on the often overwhelming expense of marketing, logistics and support to sell their beef directly to eaters. The lure of selling direct is great: farmers could earn a higher price per pound for their meat than what they earn through auction. But there are several challenges for a...
Coming soon! Little Shasta: A grass-finished ranch with deep roots in California
January 25th, 2018 by Joe Heitzeberg • Read 9,199 times • 1 min read
In 1862, Stan Sears’s family settled in mountainous Siskiyou County, California. More than 150 years later, cows still dot the same original property that his family settled. When Stan Sears graduated from Cal Poly in the sixties with a degree in Animal Sciences, he came straight back to the family ranch, and ramped up efforts to expand the farm's acreage and focus on rotational grazing and land preservation. These days, Stan is all about...